Plating the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program’s Next Course
The CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program put millions of dollars directly into the pockets of Californians who faced devastating cuts to their CalFresh benefits as a result of spending cuts driven by H.R.1. The program ceased operations at the end of June 2026 due to a lack of funding, leaving its future in jeopardy. Fortunately, the program received a new allocation of $20 million in the 2026-27 California budget, which will allow it to restart in the near future.
The CalFresh Fruit & Vegetable EBT Program provides CalFresh families with additional dollars when they use their EBT cards to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at participating retailers. For every dollar that participants spend on fresh produce, they earn an instant rebate that is instantaneously credited back to their card’s balance, up to $60 per month.
CalFresh participants celebrated the return of this much-needed program in November 2025 when the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program quickly relaunched for the third time after the end of the federal government shutdown. This highly-anticipated restart was made possible by a $36M allocation in the 2025-26 state budget. Since the program’s launch in 2023, demand has consistently outpaced available funding and as a result, it had been forced to shut down two previous times.
The federal government shutdown abruptly halted the distribution of the SNAP food assistance program, known as CalFresh in California, to 42 million Americans nationwide — including 5.5 million Californians — preventing children, seniors, and families from being able to buy the food they needed. Thanks to the hard work of the California Department of Social Services, participating retailers, and implementation partners, the CalFresh Fruit & Vegetable EBT Program was prepared to relaunch only four days after the government shutdown ended and benefits once again began flowing.
The program kicked off on November 17th, and CalFresh participants were once again able to receive rebates of up to $60/month on purchases of fresh fruit and vegetables at participating retailers. For Californians who lost access to their CalFresh dollars, or experienced weeks-long delays, all while still needing to put food on their tables, the program’s relaunch was timely and needed. The bonus dollars earned on fruit and vegetable purchases helped fill the gaps left during those weeks of uncertainty, while also ensuring that families could make ends meet during the holiday season.
From November 2025 until the program paused when it ran out of funding on June 30th, 2026, both the number of program participants and the amount of fruit and vegetable benefits earned each month continued to grow.
Each month, the number of participants and money that went directly into the pockets of Californians both steadily increased. By June 2026, about 98,000 CalFresh participants earned over $5 million in fruits and vegetable benefits.
While we were glad that the program received funding for a third restart, we estimated that the $36 million allocated in the 2025-26 California Budget would not be enough to run the program for more than 6 to 8 months. We are deeply grateful to Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Alex Lee who co-championed a $100M budget ask in fiscal year 2026-27 to allow the program to operate continuously for a full 12 months, and expand to additional geographies.
While we were unable to secure the full $100 million, Fullwell and our budget co-sponsor Nourish CA are grateful to $20M for the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program was included in this year’s budget, especially knowing that California’s leaders faced difficult choices as they balanced the many needs of Californians with deep cuts to the safety net at the federal level. For the last four years, the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program has shown how effective and efficient it is at delivering vital food benefits to Californians and we are excited for the program to continue.
Our legislative champions were joined by a cohort of legislative supporters including Senator Laura Richardson, Assemblymember Corey Jackson, Senator Caroline Menjivar, Senator John Laird, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, Pro Tem Monique Limón, and Speaker Robert Rivas, and Governor Newsom, who prioritized ensuring that CalFresh participants have sufficient resources to put fresh fruits and vegetables on their tables. We are also deeply thankful to the tens of thousands of Californians who called and emailed our state leaders to share how the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Program impacted their lives.
The next course of the program is yet to be plated, but we hope to have more information to share later this summer. In the meantime, please join us and contact your legislators to thank them for approving $20 million in the state budget. We look forward to the program once again becoming available for tens of thousands of Californians.
Read more:
